Thursday, October 27, 2011

vintage Halloween

I love vintage Halloween photos. I found some good ones from when my dad was little in the family photos and have been waiting until now to share them.

This was marked "Glenn's party Oct. '50" on the back. My dad is the kid in the "Kill the Umpire" outfit--lower left corner. What an insane mask. If some kid carried around that sign and wore that mask today he'd probably be sent immediately to therapy. (For the record, my dad is relatively sane, and probably the nicest guy you'll ever meet.) The skeleton costume is awesome...and how freaking creepy is the mask? I think the poor kid next to Skeletor dressed as a pierrot is little pissed, frankly.

Here are the adults. Not surprising for the time, I'm seeing a little bit of ethnic insensitivity sprinkled amongst the costumes. I'm liking the bottles of beer, though, and the banjo as accessory. This photo and the following three are from October 1949, and I'm guessing this is a party in my grandparents' basement.

My grandma as a cowgirl. Her outfit is awfully cute--I just wish she wasn't wearing that creepy mask. Looks like the other gals didn't quite get into the Halloween spirit, but they sure are wearing great dresses!

See the cutest kid the photo? The hobo in the bow tie? That's my dad! And holy smokes--there's a kid with the devil on his costume in the back, on the left. I'm pretty sure they don't let kids dress like Satan for Halloween anymore.

Is that kid on the left dressed as a Civil War soldier? Whoa. I'm loving the decorations--the witch's hat and the pipe cleaner skeletons! And I'm pretty sure there are actual cornstalks in the background. Well done, Grandma Edna!

I hope you all have a very happy and creepy Halloween! My big Halloween plan is a long overdue viewing of the original The Wicker Man.

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Those decorations in the last photo are amazing. Now you are making me want to try and dig through our photos here (in my job at the territorial archives)and see if I can find any Hallowe'en ones. I think movements to "ban" scary costumes (seriously, I heard about this on the radio this morning) is possibly the dumbest thing I have ever heard. Bring on Satan!